Monday, October 15, 2012

10,000 Hour Rule

Have you heard of the 10,000 Hour Rule? Malcolm Gladwell, the author, coined the phrase referring to the amount of time one has to work at a task in order to know it enough to surpass the competition.
So branching out from Mr. Gladwell and his specifics on his theory, I want to talk about a simple rule. It is based on the old adage, practice makes perfect. If you dedicate this time towards a goal, you will improve and at some point become skilled in it. Simple concept, but how many of us really work to make this happen?
Apprentice's would spend years shadowing their master before they were allowed to practice on their own.
Professional athletes train for years from the time they are children to be able to be the fastest and strongest.
10,000 hours is 5 years of 40 hour weeks. That is a lot of time dedicated to a particular task.
Think about it, 5 years is a long time. It outlasts many relationships, jobs and even automobiles.
Five years.
I look at that number and think that I see tremendous improvement in my drawings and from after just one year of dedicated practice. When coaching high school tennis, I see how much improvement the girls go through in just the first two months! Imagine if we had 1,000 hours to dedicate to the task.
Looking back on my 40 years of life, I think about how I have spent my time. How have you spent your time?